I've had emails from PayPal in the past saying: "User X has donated $0.01. After fees, that's $0.00." Setting aside the question of why somebody wanted to donate a single cent, it's a bit dispiriting to see 0% of a donation reach me. When I tried adverts, I found that the revenue generated was basically nil. I may have loyal followers, but I don't produce the many thousands of impressions needed to generate useful ad revenue. Plus it felt yucky and diluted my message, so I got rid of them. When I tried an obscure donation system - Flattr, which seems a lot like Coil - I found that not many people used it or knew what it was. People aren't eager to load up real dollars on a fuzzy "we'll pay people proportionally" system. People like a clear transaction: I'm paying this person this amount of money for this product or service. Even when donating for no tangible reward, they want a clear sense of where their money is going. What's worked for me is Patreon. It's making real money for me - not enough to rival my day job, but enough to help. People know what Patreon is, they understand how it works, so they trust it. There's a strong network effect in donations. The big names - Kickstarter, Patreon, PayPal - are considered trustworthy. They do take a substantial cut, but that's the price of anything.